Watching Clouds
by Otaku Samurai
Summary: It was almost as if he was trying to grab the sky. Glancing up at the white clouds, he looked down at the sleeping girl secured in his arms. Orihime was all he wanted, she was his cloud. And there, at that moment...she was his. //IshiHime/two-shot//
1. Part One

**Dude. This is sad—even **_**Google **_**is against Ishida-Inoue love. I looked up "IshiHime" one day with a friend and it redirected me to "IchiHime". It's like...ah snap, a total slap to Ishida's face. But IshiHime has more search results. Haha, Ichigo got owned...ok, yeah, I'm a dork. (**Said friend stated above gets some conversational credit, due to many discussions about a topic Orihime will bring up in 'Part Two'.**) **

**And so, just to be safe from lawsuits once more: **I do not own Bleach or its (sexy) characters. **That awesome fool Kubo does, not I, the Otaku Samurai. Though, I honestly wouldn't mind owning Ishida-kun... **

***grin***

* * *

The sun shone bright and mild yellow as Ishida Uryu briskly walked out of a small brick building with a little white plastic bag in hand. Twisting to a quick left off the street, he habitually adjusted his glasses to the brilliant gleam of sunlight now penetrating his keen, dark blue vision, while his white shoes tapped lightly on the equally white concrete curb; he made a predominant pace back to his apartment in a contending speed.

Uryu's navy blue eyes slowly trailed down to the austere ground as he made a right turn, apathetically crossing the non-busy street. His walking was mechanical, predominant—he knew his way, and so he stuck to his course, never waiving, never straying.

A slight breeze ruffled his dark hair, and it shined with a breezy sleek shimmer.

He lived in the uneventful suburb area of town—away from the main part of Karakura—so he had a while until he got to his home destination. But, despite the superfluous time he acquired when going to town, Uryu always preferred things that way. It was rather enjoyable walking alone in the tranquilities of himself, of his suburbia nature, of his vast mind—just to be deep in thought of things, alone in a thorough reflection of himself, and the world around him. Thoughts of nothing in particular flooded his vast mind, but they were thoughts of just _anything _that entered into his psyche. He would ponder the thought continuously until it strung out into something else, and so on. Uryu's mouth tilted up at the sides, and his glasses gleamed with a flash of sun.

Indeed.

_It's intellectual snowballing._

Uryu's white shoes clicked along the ground in an austere metronome.

Gratefully, he grinned at some of his most recent thoughts.

Of all the things he had been thinking of lately, most of them had been of his friends—or, by essentially technical and paradoxical means, his _enemies_. But friends—yes, they _were _undoubtedly his friends—were such wonderful things to have. It was quite different from when he was just the loner, the quiet one, the solitudinarian in the endless sea of students and people alike; he was the Quincy, and one of the last living and fighting on, so he felt that he was _destined _to be alone. But then—Uryu chuckled lightly—he gained the friendship of Ichigo, Chad, Rukia, Orihime...and after them, many more "friends" and acquaintances beyond belief.

And it was a great feeling to have these friends of his—it was a feeling like no other. No matter how many times he would try to mentally explain it, he would always come to the definite conclusion that the feeling was totally indescribable; some things were never meant to be explained, so he was content with the unknown—and it didn't perturb him at all.

Uryu crossed another street, made an immediate left, and softly smiled as familiarity engulfed his senses—taking a deep breath, he inhaled the fresh scent of grass as his ears pricked to the soft sounds of free flowing water, and he instantly knew that he was approaching the river that gracefully cut through Karakura.

His feet stopped with their stride and he came to an immediate halt. Within a sudden blink, with the sun starting to dim with a dense shadow now covering his skin, Uryu curiously looked up into the sky, reflecting the peculiar matching bright blue celestial heaven with his own bright, yet dark blue gaze.

_Clouds._

There were endless clouds. They timelessly filled the sky, these clouds, like mass multitudes of blanched fish in a wide aquatic abyss of cerulean blue. Each puffy billow floated in their own unique shape, each moving at their own carefree pace of the wind—they were beautiful white pillows of fluffy cotton air, and he was completely taken aback by the glorious sight that tenaciously captivated him—that firmly planted him to the ground. A slight breeze blew through his shining black hair as the sun reappeared once more, washing his body with warmth and comfort, setting his heart afire in a blithe radiance.

All was quiet, and all was free, and he humbly concluded that it was, undoubtedly, a good day.

Upon looking up at the sky, he went back to his soft rumination. Uryu never really had much time to relax in the day. Lately, "relax" wasn't even included in his vast vocabulary. First there was school, then there was the never-ending pursuit against the hollows, and then more fighting, fighting, _fighting_—and then, in an anticlimactic downturn of unanimously climactical events, _more school_. The only time there _was _rest was when one of the group would get hurt, but even then...

Orihime would heal the wounds, they'd recuperate, and they'd be back on their way.

Suddenly, the image of a certain gingery auburn haired girl appeared before him in cerebration; lightheartedly, he sighed and smiled once more—his mind built up with a lax bliss.

_Inoue-san._

Much like the clouds overhead, she had been floating in and out of his thoughts the most out of everyone, with her bubbly personality, her ever growing love and compassion, and—how out of character it would be, Uryu would always want to laugh out loud at this—her randomly, _irrationally _unsavory taste in food. Most found it revolting, and most would tear just at the thought of her odd concoctions, if not fully _vomit_. But, that was one of the many things he liked about her.

In fact...he liked...just about _everything _about her. Her hair, her smile, her overall personality, her eyes, her compassion for all things, that small way she crinkled her nose when she laughed and the glitter in her eyes...

With blue eyes wide, Uryu's face reddened a blush of crimson, and he continued walking, gripping the small plastic back tighter. He revved his pace.

_Like?_ No, it was more of a...

_Love_.

He negatively shook his head with the fervor of a violent, denying back draft as soon as the word entered his mind—he, Ishida Uryu, had no chances _whatsoever _with her, Inoue Orihime. It was written out plainly with black and white in front of his bespectacled face, and she was _totally _out of his league. Yes, he may have a little "crush" on her, and _yes _he loved every single minute he spent with her—but no, it just wasn't remotely possible. Over the years it seemed that his feelings possibly have blossomed to love, but with a squelching stomp of denial, he always managed to suppress his feelings back into their dormant state.

She couldn't love him back; no, she didn't even _like _him that way...

_And "love" is a torturous thing._

A dark shadow fell over him, but it wasn't—yet partially—a shadow of dire emotion; pausing his lanky stride once more, he looked back up into the sky.

He soaked in, examined, analyzed, _dissected_, every line of each cloud—cumulus, cirrus, some wispy stratus, and even their own subgroups were out—and he couldn't help but get mesmerized by the beauty of the white epic sight that beheld him. And once more as the sun appeared he thought back to Orihime, and Uryu grinned sadly to himself as forgotten warmth washed over him once more.

Orihime _was _his cloud; the cloud that he could see and observe, but the cloud that he couldn't _reach_. No matter how high he would run and reach for her, she would still never be his. Orihime was unattainable, impossible…and he was just utterly hopeless. This was something he just couldn't help—besides, she had another love in mind. And even if she thought nobody saw it, Uryu still did.

He sighed desperately.

Orihime was slowly floating away from him, and soon, she would be gone, away from sight, away from the very space which Uryu was present. He almost chuckled sadly to himself—it was just only a matter of time.

Uryu sighed once more, and turned back around continuing his walk. Now fully downcast, he inhaled deeply—but his blue eyes dilated and he gulped; his heart skipped a beat, his steady breathing ceased and were now replaced with a fervor of desperate snorts for oxygen. He was suffocating—the laughing air evaded his lungs in a breathless tiptoed skip. Wheezing and gasping on some unknown fuzzy substance that had flew up his nose, he barely managed to gulp as he violently huffed out air.

"T-The—_hell_—?"

He caught the sight of a familiar gingery auburn haired figure appear in his keen bespectacled navy blue peripheral vision.

"Oh, Ishida-kun!"

Knowingly (and not in the very least surprisingly), Uryu covered his nose with a hand and whipped his head over to the bubbly voice—as if that lovesick bastard Fate had it, Orihime was sitting on the slope of the grassy hill, holding a dull green stem of a dried dandelion. The soft sounds of clear water echoed around her, and she happily looked up with a carefree smile as the sun reflected off each wave, showering her in the radiance of a heavenly glow. Uryu quickly gulped—Orihime gave him a salute after tossing the dandelion stem, and cheerfully waved with her opposite hand.

So it was dandelion he had so _gracefully _choked on.

Damn it all.

"H-Hello, Inoue-san," Uryu greeted after clandestinely spitting out the remaining flower debris that had traveled from the inside of his nose to his mouth. He was glad she didn't catch him spitting—that was rude, of all things. Not to mention unsanitary. "How,"—he gulped dryly—"a-are you?"

Orihime laughed lightly, and dreamily sprawled herself down on the soft slope of green grass. She sighed with limitless pleasure. "I'm absolutely wonderful, Ishida-kun! It's so pretty out today, I just _had _to go out and watch the clouds...they're just so _beautiful_."

As Uryu gazed down at her unworried state, it brought him an inner peace, and he smiled slightly to himself. There was no doubt about it:

_She is beautiful._

"Indeed, they are." Uryu's voice was gently lucid as he spoke with the smile still written tangibly on his free lips.

He continued gazing down at her, not even daring to look at the clouds—she was all he needed.

Still lying on the grass, she looked up at him with a big grin, and in return, he brightly looked into her upside-down face. Her gray eyes examined his glasses, his wind-blown hair, his mouth, his eyes—but then quickly shifted to the white plastic bag slung around his wrist. Orihime pointed at him with her head slightly tilted to the side, watching him.

"Oh! Did you go into town?"

Adjusting his glasses, his face slowly flushed with color.

"Y-Yes, Inoue-san, I did."

She scrunched her eyebrows together, a hasty question being processed and pondered on the tip of her tongue, but she blurted it out nonetheless without fully ingesting the simple thoughts of personal boundaries.

"Whadjaget, Ishida-kun?" She found the little smiley face saying _Thank You_ in red print on the plastic bag highly amusing.

Uryu wasn't fully taken surprised by the question; it was very typical of Orihime—her bold inquisitiveness—but he couldn't help but blush a little deeper. That was another small aspect he liked about her, among all of the other things. But, the idea of her actually _interested _in his meek little personal life was what thrilled him the most. It was exceptionally nice that she cared about his life and the small menial things he did in his free time.

"I just happened to have purchased some different types of threads—two spools of point five thread, precisely—since I need to make certain repairs on some of my apparel. That last hollow battle we had did rather subduing damage on my mantle..."

A toothy grin formed on her perfect face—a flash of insecurity cut through his soul. Was she laughing at him? Uryu nervously gulped—it was the _mantle_, wasn't it?

Orihime giggled.

"Ishida-kun! You're _so cool!_"

Uryu raised his sleek black eyebrows in cynical speculation. _Wow_. No one had ever told him something like _that _before. Really?—he was never really the "cool" one—and the loners never really got any of the _credit_...besides, it was always Ichigo who got all of the glory, and Uryu was just in his damned mask-and-sword shinigami shadow.

Uryu's heart skipped multiple beats, and with a dark blue gaze he eyed her skeptically. Well, this circumstance was definitely new—he felt a sudden need to justify himself.

"Why?—H-How?"

"Aw, come on Ishida-kun, you're one of the coolest people I know! You can make _anything _from sewing, you're _crazy _smart, and plus you have an _awesome _Quincy bow that you fight with...oh-oh-oh, and you're new Seele Schneider sword-thingy!—that's the _coolest_, you know! It looks like it glows in the dark...like a giant glow-stick...and when you twirl it around when you're all dramatic, it looks like you're a _rave dancer_.How are you _not _cool? Plus," she giggled, "I _do _like your cape."

His black eyebrows crinkled and his mouth pursed in humor. If anybody else would've said that, Uryu would have probably been _pissed_—they would be insulting his Quincy weaponry, his whites and blues, and it would have been along the fine lines of stomping dirtily on his pride—but she _was _Orihime, and oh how he wanted to lightheartedly laugh at her statement.

It was just so _cute_.

Forcing himself to keep his stoic composure, yet obviously giddy, he grinned down at her.

"Really?"

Her face was sincere, and her voice was equally as sweet—it melted his thawing chivalrous heart with a smile.

"Uh huh," she threw him a hearty thumbs up, "really really."

Uryu laughed silently, but just like that, against his wishes, the conversation instantly died.

On cue, the breezy air immediately turned awkward while the lone Quincy stood there; neither of the two emitted a single word as the slight breeze blew against them. A few seconds flew by, torturous tick by tick, white, puffy cloud by cloud—should he say something? Should he just leave? Should he just stay? What he would do just make a simple move—the things he would _give _just to be with her, by themselves, and with nobody else there to ruin his one in a lifetime moment of bliss.

Damn his insecurities. And her gray eyes were still on him.

Uryu glanced away, and cleared his throat before dryly gulping; warily, he inhaled a deep breath of grassy scent. He clenched, and then unclenched, his fists. His heart galloped into a hefty beat as he noted that his already small possibilities were extremely limited with Orihime, and he was about to excuse himself to leave—a cowardly move, this he already knew—until she timidly spoke up, cutting him off. It inwardly overjoyed him as she did.

"...Ishida-kun, would you like to join me?"

Uryu's heart almost stopped, and his already blanched face went totally blank. Overjoyed as he may be, her question still took him greatly aback. She was inviting him—on that beautiful sunny day—to spend time with her, and to just watch the clouds. He could have died due to the inevitable stun. In fact, he almost did.

Orihime quickly noticed his look of surprise and utter lack of enthusiasm, and deep feelings of anxiety shivered through her spine. She could feel a warm blush of pink spread across her face.

"Oh, w-well you know..." Orihime said hastily, sheepishly looking away, "...it's been kinda lonely, y'know, all day by myself. And since you're here, I would really enjoy your company, since nice days like this should be shared with o-others—um...and..."

Orihime looked back up at him, deep pigments of red now painted on her full cheeks, and he returned with a small blush of his own. He was puzzled as to why she was blushing, but how could he deny her? Besides, deep down in his heart, he _had _wished to stay. He gulped nervously, wishing that his stolidity would return, and not that damned anxiety that he always held dormant until he was around her.

"A-Ah—"

"Of course, you don't have to! I don't want you to feel obligated, since you were already busy until I stopped you with your shopping and stuff. You don't have to stay if you don't want to. But...it's always nice...when...we...hang out...together."

It was as if she was trying to find the right words to say, and despite her uncertainty, he grinned at the rationale of it all. Why not reap the ultimate benefits of his obvious cowardice and her oblivious audacity, and just go with it? This was his chance—and besides, he never had any relaxation time anyway (this was his loophole-scapegoat)...and when he _did _he was either finding some way to train, patching up impatient zipper transplants to his shirts, or re-bleaching (haha) his Quincy outfit of blood or those intolerable grass and dirt stains.

So, Uryu would assertively take this moment to his full advantage, and savory it fully. Of all things, he sure as hell deserved it. Being with her might increase the points on his low blood pressure, but what harm would it really do? Besides...

_The way she looks at me...I can't ever deny her._

He finally grinned.

"If you wish, Inoue-san, I will stay since you so generously proposed it."

"Y-Yes, of course, Ishida-kun! Oh yay!—This will be so fun, thank you!"

"There's no need to thank me, it's really no problem..."

_Anything for you, Inoue-san._

She plopped back down onto the grassy slope, looked up at him as she laid there, and patted the grass next to her, motioning him to come sit beside her—and submissively, Uryu nimbly walked down, loosening the bag at his wrist. The wind softly blew through his black hair as he lightly trudged lower towards the river, engulfed once more with the utter stupor of the beautifully subliminal weather. Finally, he arrived where Orihime sat and gently followed suit, easing himself down next to the carefree girl. Setting the plastic bag next to him, his heart skipped a beat.

They had been in close proximity before, but now, with everyone home and resting, it felt so _different_. More _intimate_. Sort of like...

...a date.

His blush couldn't have reddened deeper until she broke the silence—in a flash of Hime quickness, she pointed up at the sky with reverence written plainly upon her bright face.

"Lookie, Ishida-kun! That cloud right there looks like a big giraffe! Oh-oh-oh, and that one over there! It looks like one of those steam engine locomotive-thingies—ah, and that one! A bonsai tree!—and, oh my..._a cute little rainbow trout holding an umbrella while drinking iced Chai tea and riding a dwarf-leopard!_"

He couldn't help but sense the tremors of intense euphoric emotion shiver through his spine—it confused him—but Uryu knew with a slight hint of mental unconsciousness that it was the newly formed roots of the deepest of inevitable affection.

And that was love.

Uryu's head tilted up immediately, a laugh at his lips which reflected the silent love he felt for her, and the wind blew carelessly through their hair as he relished his sweet time with Orihime.


	2. Part Two

They had both been laying there for a long while now. Uryu couldn't exactly pinpoint the amount of time they were there, but for once, he let his mechanical tendencies dissipate with the ever moving clouds. He did know, however, that they had been there for at least a few hours—the only way he figured was the tedious revolution of the earth around the sun. Yes, he figured around two hours of careless Orihime cloud speculation, and Uryu had loved every second of it.

But with the rest of his technical tendencies, Uryu just let go.

Comfortably, he placed his right hand behind his head and his left one limply on his chest, finally letting go of his defenses, and shutting down his protective shield. There was only thing that he would let himself worry about—and that was Orihime—but his heart was at immense ease with a dying need for worry. There was nothing else but peace that encompassed them, and he was content with that. Even if his love wasn't returned—or _known_, for that matter—she would still and forever be his cloud, so high in the sky, and so free. Gazing up with dark blue eyes, Uryu watched the fluffy billows of white air with a dreamy sigh; one cloud after the other, his thoughts revolved back to the gingery auburn haired girl sitting at his side, equally as carefree, and he smiled along with the easy breeze.

Orihime had named off hundreds of random things that she saw cloudily formed in the deep blue sky. And Uryu didn't mind in the very least—it was actually fun just listening to her talk. He didn't really say much in their time together, but when she asked a question or simply stated a thought, he willingly replied, and even added his own insight into her perception. Uryu knew this from the very first time he met her, but she was undoubtedly an _interesting _person. How could he _not _love her? Love. Love...

Uryu couldn't deny it, nor would he. There was no doubt about it:

_I love her._

"So, Ishida-kun, if vampires don't need to breathe, then what happens if they like...drown or something?"

_I love everything she does..._

"Well, Inoue-san...if they don't need to breathe," Uryu rose an eyebrow as his blue eyes trailed a lone cloud, "how would they necessarily drown?"

_I love everything she says..._

"Okay, not _drown_, but where would the water they swallowed go? Their lungs? Their tummies? How would they get it out? I mean, when I drown—no no no, Ishida-kun don't look at me like that, it was only once, look, I'm alive and well—I didn't really get water in my lungs, but I just swallowed it...actually, I don't think I drowned the right way—oh, just thinking about it hurts my brain!"

_I just...love her._

Chuckling lightly at her theory, Uryu discovered a way to be Orihime's brand of irrational.

"Hmn, Inoue-san, I honestly don't know." He paused, and then slightly grinned. "You should find a vampire and inquire this yourself."

Uryu honestly expected her to concur and then create—"intellectually snowball"—some other harebrained idea that she could concoct on the spot, but the conversation actually continued with a disagreed rebuttal. Emphasizing her soon-to-be-known point, she sat up straight and looked down at him with a skeptically comical scrunch of the eyebrows.

"Ishida-kun, you're so funny! _Everyone _knows vampires don't exist!"—that shot him down, but he continued listening to her bubbly speech with a carefree ease—"But, I _do _know that evil sponges that bring bad luck live under the sink, and grow abnormally large after neon purple acid is spilt on them."

He pursed his lips, forcing in a laugh.

"Is that so?"

Orihime scrunched her eyebrows together, "Yeah!"

One corner of his mouth dared to tilt up. "So I better be wary of my sink from now on then?"

"Of course, Ishida-kun! How horrible would it be if you were to be attacked by an evil sponge? Oh, and how bad I would feel knowing that they were real and that I didn't warn you!—Please, Ishida-kun, don't get attacked by a killer bad luck sponge! Oh…I'd be so sad!"

With his ego boosted at the thought of her caring about his wellbeing, Uryu finally chuckled. "Indeed, I see your point...I wouldn't want a sink-sponge to get me, and I don't want to worry you. Thank you for your helpful admonition, Inoue-san. I'll be more careful from now on."

There was an eminent pause, and the metaphorical cogs in her brain continued to tick and turn. Orihime scowled in contemplation.

"Huh...but really...if there was no need to breathe," She mumbled, "then how would the vampires—eh, all this _thinking_ kinda hurts. I really don't know how you do it, Ishida-kun."

Uryu immediately formed a definite conclusion—he found it quite appropriate, too.

"If vampires don't breathe regarding the 'fact' that it is virtually unknown as to how the, eh, _deglutition _of water is removed, then wouldn't it just be discretional to swim with a closed mouth?—Or, essentially, no consumption at all?"

With his now obvious rationality circulating the air, he nonchalantly looked over at her, and in return she stared at him with a blank face—her head tilted to the side in an amazed stupor.

"Ishida-kun..." She looked Uryu straight in his navy blue eyes, "...I think you have just cracked open the secrets of the super-duper confusing question about vampires that I have been trying to figure out for _years_ now! Wow...you're so amazingly cool! To think that all they would have to do was just not open their mouths...silly vampires and their drowning issues. Oh, one of the greatest traits in humans: not having to throw up random water after you drown—"

She paused and crinkled her eyebrows together.

"—Waitaminute...we kinda _do _have to throw up water after we drown...like...regurgitation or something. Oh my, that could work too! They _regurgitate!_" Orihime clenched her fist triumphantly, "We're so ingenious! Ishida-kun, we're such a dynamic team! We should take over the world!"

Uryu raised his sleek black eyebrows, and slightly grinned—he didn't want to show her his full enjoyment from her revelations, of course.

"It's alright, Inoue-san, I'm glad that your theories have been somewhat corrected and that I had the chance to be of some service to you—there's no real need to thank me. Really...the pleasure is all mine."

And there was absolutely no lie in that.

The yellow sun glowed down at the pair as their conversing ceased, and Orihime hugged her knees as she looked at the glittering river. She watched the steady flow, and the light blue current shimmered with a bright luster which captivated her gray eyes. The little breaks of water washed along the concrete shore and each wave echoed lightly as they crashed carelessly with the easy breeze; a strand of gingery auburn silk softly whipped across her face, and she nonchalantly pulled it back behind her ear—behind her hairpins.

Time continuously elapsed with the cool breeze of the wind. And, as their conversation momentarily ceased, Orihime joyously thought back to Uryu's stated knowledge regarding the sky. And she loved it. It was so mystical, so enthralling—she couldn't even wrap her head around it. Uryu had softly pointed out each cloud that caught his eye, naming them one by one accordingly to his super confusing scientific terms.

She couldn't deny that it was enjoyable.

Orihime always did love hearing smart people talk, but just listening to Uryu amazed her to no end. He had such an educated air about his language and poise, she obviously knew that he was an intellectual—he had first in the class for _years _on end—but there was still something different about it. Uryu didn't drone when explaining what he knew (when people actually wanted to know), much like the other smart people she knew—like her teachers, or even some of her classmates. He definitely knew what he was talking about, but it was if he spiced it up somehow. Almost...like he added tenderness to it—no, that wasn't it...

A sort of...affection to it?—no that wasn't it either. Gentleness? Oh, it was confusing!

Orihime didn't exactly know just what it was, but she absolutely loved sitting there next to him, in full reverence of the majestic nature surrounding them.

Ears pricked—she heard a small sigh next to her, and she looked down at the tranquil Quincy at her side.

* * *

Orihime watched him with soft gray eyes; gazing down at the smile on his lips, and the complacent expression of eased peacefulness on his perfect face, her heart swelled—but the immediate feelings were unknown to her, and she didn't know why. His dark navy blue eyes were half-open; the wind lightly blew through his dark sleek hair, shining with the very sun they sat under, and a lone strand of black wisped over his restful face as it tangled into the lenses of his glasses. Inauspiciously, that little strand _annoyed _her, _vexed _her—she wanted to remove it, to reach over and take the flaw that imbalanced the perfection of his face.

Her gray eyes widened and she was purged back into the present.

—What, _what?_

That last thought took her aback, and her face flushed pink.

His dark blue eyes glittered up at the sky, and there was this limitless peace within him that she couldn't pinpoint. And this, for all reasons unknown to her jumbled thoughts, attracted her.

Her heart fluttered—Orihime couldn't have blushed any darker.

Attraction? _Attraction?_ Since _when_?

Oh, and she earnestly hoped that he didn't notice her red face—it was _already _so hard for him _not _to notice even some of the most minute things. Uryu was so thorough, so organized—he rarely missed a thing, always thinking the smallest things through, and then even every consequence that impeded the action. And yet, Orihime valued that in his personality. In a weird Hime way, it was as if Uryu was her exact opposite: she talked a lot while he talked less—she bubbly while he was reserved—she just jumped in head-on and he calculated beforehand.

She pursed her lips in contemplative thought.

_He's like my multiplicative inverse...huh...but we're so parallel!_

She smiled giddily—she had always loved math terms.

But, all thoughts of math aside, she gazed deeply into Uryu's face. He was just so easy to get along with, and he was so likable! Yes, maybe he wasn't the social one, or even the one to make a scene, but he was funny, dramatic, courageous, and—Orihime felt her face flush once more—he was incredibly, undeniably _sweet_. She would even go as far to say that he was _adorable_.

Gray eyes widening and lightly gasping, she reflected that last thought hardly with doubt. They did seem to have some little unspoken attraction that she couldn't explain...

But there were other things to factor in concerning her little "Ishida Theory": he always told other people to just go away and leave him alone, but he _was _nice, and he always _did _help when it was asked of him. And it was almost as if he didn't want to—in the most humble of ways—accept other people's gratitude; it was like he felt he didn't deserve it.

Orihime nibbled on her bottom lip in ponder; she then added herself into her little equation—_Hehehe more math terms—_Uryu always seemed to have a soft spot for her...

Maybe he was nice to just her? Orihime pursed her lips. Yes...that or he was just socially discriminate to everyone else besides her, Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, and the occasional Keigo or Mizuiro. But, despite all of these things, she still felt incredibly comfortable with him, and she could be herself—with no facades, and no fake outer perceptions of her character. Orihime rarely did that anyway, but she could easily conform to the eased security when she was with Uryu. It was so calming! His aura always washed her with this emanate feeling of complete protection—and almost every time she was with him, it felt as if she didn't ever want to leave. Plus, there, right now and with him and by themselves, it felt..._natural_.

_Whoa-whoa-whoa...where are these ideas coming from?—Jeez...talk about inner conflict!_

But, she blushed a little more and glanced away, fixating her eyes once more on the river. She inhaled the rich scent of the green grass, but smiled lightly as thoughts ran through her jumbled mind.

She had a soft spot for him too...

"Inoue-san," his voice was ever so soft, and it brought her to immediate attention, "do you see that cloud right there?"

He reached his arm up overhead, and pointed directly at the sky. Her eyes followed his finger to the massive geometrically puffy billow.

"Huh? Yeah, I see the—_oh wow_."

"That's a cumulonimbus incus cloud, the one that is flat at the top. 'Incus' is derived from the Latin for 'anvil', and that is why it is called so—it _is _rather anvil-shaped. But this one seems to have attained some precipitation, that's why it's more round and heavy—not as level. The reason why the cloud is such a dark yellow at the top while the blacker shadows are at the bottom is due to the position of the sun."

Orihime's mouth gaped, but then she gulped back in awe with gray eyes wide. She tried to process this information—but the cloud overhead was exceptionally inexplicable. She fell back down onto the grass in a lightheaded stupor.

"It's...amazing."

"It is, isn't it?" Uryu chuckled gently, "But, it's...ah, how should I put this, somewhat _frightening _in a sense."

She turned over to look at him with curiosity. Dark blue locked with gray.

"Why? How could something so beautiful be so scary?"

Uryu sighed, looking back at the cloud.

"It's much like any other thing, Inoue-san, and things such as beauty—love, even—hint to the very unknown." He grinned crookedly at his small philosophy. "These clouds can form supercells—these are thunderstorms deep inside the cloud—which can then in turn form tornados."

"Whoa, _wait_." Orihime gulped, "So is there a chance of a tornado?"

"Thankfully, no. The formation of supercells are exceptionally rare, so," Uryu looked over at her with a wry smile, "no tornados for today...or, hopefully, _any _day for that matter."

She giggled softly and pondered her newly acquired information.

"Oh, well thank goodness! But, that _is _pretty amazing...I mean, a tornado in Karakura? That would be horrible...wow, Ishida-kun, you're so smart! I know I told you this already like akabajillions of times, but it's so true! You're so well-rounded—and y'know, today I've learned way more about clouds, wait, no—way more about _anything _than I have in _any _class. It's really interesting."

Uryu glanced over at her tenderly with feelings he only wished he could express out loud. His heart melted as he gazed over every line on her face, and every wispy strand of gingery auburn hair that curled with the wind. His dark blue eyes shined behind his glasses with a silent love—a love that wanted to be shouted and shown, a love that wanted to be loved back.

"It's really nothing, Inoue-san. Just little pieces of information I picked up...not necessarily anything out of the ordinary."

Pursing her lips, Orihime's eyebrows scrunched together in slight vexation, and she was about to chastise him for his humble modesty on the tremendous information he knew, but he tersely interrupted her.

"Inoue-san, see that cloud bunch, right there?"

She couldn't help but look up in immediate anticipation, forgetting her moment of annoyance while he pointed up—as if she could get annoyed with him _anyway_. Within a moment's glance, she felt overwhelmed, but then instantly deflated.

Orihime looked at him, utterly confused.

"Ishida-kun…those clouds don't look very special…not like that other one, the cumuloniaincus-thingy."

Uryu grinned crookedly and shrugged.

"True, but I wish you could see them from a higher view…preferably looking down at it."

"_Down?_"

"Yes, Inoue-san, these clouds—stratocumulus perlucidus, in fact—aren't much now, but up above in a different view, they're unimaginably majestic…and irregular—that's why each one is so bunched up…"—he paused—"No, they don't look special right now, but they almost have the same principles as the incus cloud, Inoue-san."

His voice was slow, and Orihime noticed how flawlessly he enunciated his speech—the way he moved his mouth, the little smile when he spoke after every word—it was just so _perfect_. Her gray eyes watched him warmly while the wind kissed at her gingery auburn hair. She didn't say a word, but waited for him to carry on.

"It's not really what's on the outside, or what's exactly seen, but it's what's more in depth—and everything has its own unique beauty. You just have to lay there long enough to notice it." Uryu grinned once more at his personal philosophy, and continued as he gazed dreamily up at the blue sky, tracing a lone cloud with his dark navy blue eyes. "I know pictures don't fully explain, but I should show you one…sometime."

Silently, he gulped. Grinning, she smiled at him excitedly.

Uryu was so caught up and comfortable with his conversation that he forgot who exactly he was talking to—he blushed sheepishly as he realized that Orihime—his irrevocable love—was practically gaping at him.

"Yes! Please! That would be so wonderful! I'd really like to know more about what you're talking about…since you know so much about it—I really hate being in the dark about smart things, it makes me sad—oh, okay, Ishida-kun, what's that cloud right there, yeah, that little round one?"

Now, with his blush a diminish of pink, he blinked and looked up.

"The cumulus humilis? Well, they have limited depth, thus resulting in the…"

_Hehehe, he's so cool._

And, with the tranquil flow of his voice, Orihime gently laid back down onto the grassy slope as the wind flowed through her hair and the scent of each blade of grass wafted up her nostrils; she smiled contentedly. Orihime continuously asked questions, and he graciously answered them; and as they laid there, together in perfect reverence of all around them, inner peace returned into her heart, her senses, and poised an inner disclosure. Orihime became lost in her own personal world, one where it was Uryu and her, just them, there, staring up at the sky—she lost her sense of sound—all except for Uryu's voice.

She smiled deeply to herself; she sighed comfortably.

Time became everlasting…

* * *

Uryu had stopped talking for intricate moments now, and since Orihime had seemingly stopped replying with her interested feedback, he paused. Uryu waited for her word in edgewise, but none came, so he inquisitively leaned over onto his elbow and glanced over to the girl that was reclined lazily next to him—he couldn't help but chuckle at what he saw.

Her gray eyes were closed with her gingery eyelashes softly twitching in a deep sleep, her hands were placed limply on her stomach, and she was completely, utterly, peacefully asleep. A quick string of insecurity pierced through his mind—_Did I bore her?_—but it was repressed as fast as it had came as soon as he noticed the intricate smile upon her lips. No. He couldn't have. That was just how Orihime was, and that was how she would forever always be: the unreachable cloud, the girl of his dreams, and the girl of his reality.

Sighing softly to himself, Uryu laid down comfortably on the grass, eased his head, and blinked in his tranquilities. He couldn't help feed off her serene aura—yet, he couldn't help but cringe at the inept pain that throbbed in his heart. It really was torture, there next to her, but he couldn't help but love the time he had spent with her. There was no worry. He never really had any relaxation in the day…

Uryu chuckled sarcastically to himself.

_I really am a masochist. _

He reached his arm up overhead. The sun filtered brightly through his fingers, and his eyes glittered—there was a small smile on his lips, and the wind blew slightly through his hair. Uryu's Quincy cross gleamed with the shine of the yellow star they laid under and a flash of light dropped upon him in a reflected sheen.

Uryu clenched his fist, as if he was to grab the sky.

Orihime was so close.

Maybe. Someday—he would have his chance.

He looked up sadly at the aquatic abyss of white clouds. Each one looked back down at him, and each one bared the face of the sleeping girl at his side; she smiled at him. She laughed. She…mumbled?

Uryu, with his arm still raised up, quickly looked to his right, and before he could process any of the events happening around him, she rolled over.

He immediately tensed. Uryu's dark blue eyes dilated in a shocked stupor, and his heart almost stopping its blood-induced beats—but she lay there limply. Carelessly. Her soft breathing echoed in his ears, and he could sense every movement of her body as she slept there.

He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if he _could_ say something.

Uryu was paralyzed with Orihime in his arms.

Orihime was positioned softly on her side with her body curled up next to him. He was amazed at how well she fit against him, and how comfortable it was just to have her there, conforming next to his body. One soft hand was placed tenderly against his side while her other was placed intricately under her cheek. Uryu shivered with a deep tremor of anxiety; maybe he would just have to concoct a minutely selfish loophole just to justify the situation.

Her skin was so warm…

Wonder flooded his intellectual mind, and he scanned through his limited possibilities. She was asleep in his arms, almost as if she did love him. If she was to wake and find herself with him—and not Kurosaki—would she hate him? Uryu couldn't bear it—would she be absolutely revolted? Uryu knew that he should wake her up, but he couldn't force himself to stir—truthfully, he couldn't even move. Orihime looked so peaceful—he couldn't deny her such limitless harmony. Though, he abhorred the fact of taking full advantage of her—even if it wasn't particularly heinous—by not doing the noble thing of waking her sleeping state. Uryu was too chivalrous; he was knightly: never careless, and gallantly courteous.

He grinned sadly as his dark navy blue eyes caught a lone cloud overhead.

She was his cloud. And for a moment, as he held his arm up, a spark of belittled hope lit in his heart. Maybe. Just maybe someday he would catch her, have her—finally _love_ her. Orihime was getting closer and closer, and he could almost grab her.

One cloud flew timelessly through the sky, and a shadow covered them. Within moments, the sun reappeared, and the cloud crashed with another—they both fused, and both conformed with the other.

And, as they both lay there, with her in his arms, he smiled at his current circumstance. Then, now—maybe this was his chance to acquire the love he wanted. Maybe he had finally caught her, after waiting for so long. Tenderly, Uryu looked down at the sleeping girl—the girl he loved, the girl that always lit his heart each time she smiled.

Well, it sure _looked _like he had caught her. Hell, it looked like she just dropped out of the sky and into his arms.

With his silver Quincy emblem glistening with the sun at his wrist, Uryu brought his arm down and laid it softly on his chest—almost touching her own hand. The wind tenderly combed through his hair, and he could smell the intricate scent of her gingery auburn locks.

He smiled.

Orihime was all he wanted—she was his cloud, and for now, at that moment...

He closed his dark navy blue eyes and slowly felt himself slip away.

...she was his.

* * *

**Ah, IshiHime love is so sweet…bah, but rather unrequited. Orihime that dumb ****(insert term for a certain garden instrument)****. This is essentially pre-SS arc, with little sprinkles of SS and Arrancar, but with the awesome "omg Uryu is a freakin' bamf cuz he raves" Seele Schneider addition. I know that **_**none **_**of you can disagree with me—it's like a giant glow-stick. **_**And he twirls it around in circles.**_***fangirls* **

**I got this idea when a bunch of clouds were out and I was chillin' with some friends on this little grassy slope (go figure), and then some inspiration from that one poster where the whole crew is asleep on the grass. Oh, I'm so cliché. **Please review! Would be greatly appreciated! Please point out typos, grammatical errors, if it sucked, if it didn't, if you liked it, if you didn't, etc.** All of you people who took the time to check this out are totally awesome—thanks for reading! :D**


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